Capitalism knocking at the door.

Monsoon continues to drench us and overnight coca cola has arrived - on the signboards and  at the traffic lights. ATMs for local people are just about working (though my office grumbles over being forced to open a bank account and how inconvenient it is to own a bank card).

We argue over the foreign direct investment law.

The Hluttaw added 93 amendments making it harder for FDI to come inside the country. The amendments came out of meeting between local Myanmar businesses (and chronies) and MPS.

In the usual Myanmar way, we exchange rumours on exactly what the bill says and what the amendments mean or whether our translations of the bill are correct.

Should foreign companies have the same rights as local companies? And, do the amendments mean protection for the chronies? Or protection for small  and medium businesses to develop? And how can businesses develop without credit and a legal system?

The lessons of economic development take on new meanings in this "newly opening market". How should a country develop? Are Burmese chronies better than big multinationals? And when did foreign direct investment become the "solution" to all Myanmar's problems? We argue over the history of western development and free trade. We umm and ahh over competing testimonies on the history of the industrial revolution in Britain and the rise of the Asian Tigers.

And at the end of it all will be a bill that will determine how companies enter the market here and perhaps some of the future of the place.

In the meantime though my taxi drivers mutter that coca cola is too expensive and they don't really understand the advertising. For now, Star Cola is still the drink of choice.